If you already know the Polish question words — kto, co, gdzie, kiedy, jak, ile, który — then you already know, for free, how to say someone, something, somewhere, sometime, somehow, some amount, one of them. Polish builds its indefinite pronouns with one tiny, completely regular suffix: -ś. Stick -ś onto a question word and it stops asking and starts vaguely pointing: kto? ("who?") → ktoś ("someone"). A second suffix, -kolwiek, makes the free-choice "any-at-all" series. This is one of the most economical corners of Polish grammar, and this page shows you how to exploit it.
The -ś series: "some-"
The pattern is mechanical. Take the bare interrogative, add -ś:
| Question word |
| Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| kto (who) | ktoś | someone, somebody |
| co (what) | coś | something |
| gdzie (where) | gdzieś | somewhere |
| kiedy (when) | kiedyś | sometime, once, one day |
| jak (how) | jakoś | somehow |
| jaki (what kind) | jakiś | some, a certain, a kind of |
| który (which) | któryś | one of them, some one |
| ile (how much/many) | ileś | some amount, an unspecified number |
| czyj (whose) | czyjś | someone's |
| dokąd (where to) | dokądś | (to) somewhere |
The semantic effect is "exists but unidentified" — there is a person/thing/place, the speaker just can't or won't name it.
Ktoś dzwonił, kiedy byłeś pod prysznicem.
Someone called while you were in the shower.
Chcę coś zjeść, umieram z głodu.
I want to eat something, I'm starving.
Mieszka gdzieś w Krakowie, nie pamiętam dokładnie gdzie.
She lives somewhere in Kraków, I don't remember exactly where.
Kiedyś byłem w Tokio, jakieś dziesięć lat temu.
I was in Tokyo once, some ten years ago.
The -ś forms still decline
Crucially, ktoś and coś are not frozen. The case ending goes inside, between the stem and the -ś: you decline the kto/co part and keep the -ś riding along at the end. So the genitive of ktoś is kogoś, the dative is komuś, and so on:
| Case | ktoś (someone) | coś (something) |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ktoś | coś |
| Genitive | kogoś | czegoś |
| Dative | komuś | czemuś |
| Accusative | kogoś | coś |
| Instrumental | kimś | czymś |
| Locative | (o) kimś | (o) czymś |
The same logic you learned for kto/co governs the case here: the verb or preposition decides it.
Szukam kogoś, kto zna się na komputerach.
I'm looking for someone who knows about computers. (kogoś — genitive after szukać)
Muszę ci o czymś powiedzieć.
I have to tell you about something. (czymś — locative after o)
Rozmawiałam z kimś z twojej firmy.
I spoke with someone from your company. (kimś — instrumental after z)
Daj to komuś, kto tego potrzebuje.
Give it to someone who needs it. (komuś — dative)
jakiś and któryś are adjective-like: they decline for gender, number, and case the way an adjective does (jakiś, jakaś, jakieś; jakiegoś, jakimś…). They agree with the noun they accompany:
Dzwonił jakiś pan i pytał o ciebie.
Some man called and asked about you. (jakiś — masculine, agreeing with pan)
Mam jakieś pytanie, ale zapomniałam jakie.
I have some question, but I forgot what. (jakieś — neuter, agreeing with pytanie)
Któryś z chłopców zostawił tu plecak.
One of the boys left a backpack here. (któryś z + genitive plural)
A softening "vague" use of jakiś
Beyond "a certain", jakiś often works as a hedge meaning "about / -ish / some sort of", taking the edge off a statement. Jakieś dziesięć minut is "about ten minutes"; jakiś dziwny is "kind of strange". This is everyday, informal-leaning but fully standard:
Poczekaj jakieś pięć minut, zaraz schodzę.
Wait about five minutes, I'm coming down. (jakieś = roughly)
On jest dzisiaj jakiś smutny.
He seems kind of sad today. (jakiś softening 'sad')
The -kolwiek series: free-choice "any-"
Where -ś means "some specific-but-unknown one", -kolwiek means "any one at all, it doesn't matter which" — the free-choice "any". It attaches to the same question words: ktokolwiek (anyone at all), cokolwiek (anything at all/whatever), gdziekolwiek (anywhere at all), kiedykolwiek (ever, at any time), jakikolwiek (any sort whatsoever), którykolwiek (any one of them).
Jeśli ktokolwiek pyta, mnie tu nie było.
If anyone (at all) asks, I wasn't here.
Zjem cokolwiek, jestem za głodny, żeby wybierać.
I'll eat anything, I'm too hungry to be picky.
Możemy się spotkać kiedykolwiek ci pasuje.
We can meet whenever suits you.
The contrast with -ś is real and worth feeling. Chcę coś zjeść = "I want to eat something" (there's a particular hunger, you'll pick a thing). Zjem cokolwiek = "I'll eat anything" (the choice is wide open, you don't care which). Like the -ś forms, cokolwiek and ktokolwiek decline — the case ending goes before -kolwiek: czegokolwiek, komukolwiek, kimkolwiek.
Nie bój się prosić kogokolwiek o pomoc.
Don't be afraid to ask anyone (at all) for help. (kogokolwiek — accusative object of prosić)
A note on "any" in negatives and questions
English uses any in three places: free choice (pick any card), questions (do you have any money?), and negatives (I don't have any money). Polish splits these. Free choice is -kolwiek (or just jakiś). But in a negative sentence, English "any" maps onto the negative pronouns nikt/nic/żaden with obligatory double negation — I don't see anything is Nic nie widzę, not anything with -kolwiek. And in a neutral question, Polish often simply uses jakiś or no determiner at all: Masz jakieś pieniądze? ("Do you have any money?"). See /grammar/polish/pronouns/negative/nikt-nic for the negative side.
Common Mistakes
❌ Rozmawiałem z ktoś.
Incorrect — after z (instrumental) it must be z kimś; the case goes inside, before -ś.
✅ Rozmawiałem z kimś.
I talked with someone.
Don't leave ktoś/coś frozen. Decline the kto/co core and keep -ś on the end: kimś, kogoś, czegoś, czymś.
❌ Szukam ktoś, kto mi pomoże.
Incorrect — szukać governs the genitive, so kogoś.
✅ Szukam kogoś, kto mi pomoże.
I'm looking for someone who'll help me.
The verb's case government applies to the indefinite exactly as to the plain pronoun.
❌ Nie widzę cokolwiek.
Incorrect — in a negative sentence Polish uses the negative pronoun with double negation.
✅ Nic nie widzę.
I don't see anything.
English "any" in a negative is Polish nic/nikt + nie, not cokolwiek. Cokolwiek is free choice ("anything at all"), not negative polarity.
❌ Dzwonił jakiś pani.
Incorrect — jakiś must agree in gender with the feminine noun: jakaś.
✅ Dzwoniła jakaś pani.
Some woman called.
Jakiś is adjective-like and must agree: jakiś pan, jakaś pani, jakieś dziecko, jacyś ludzie. The verb agrees too (dzwoniła, feminine).
❌ Jakoś pytanie mam.
Incorrect — confusing the adverb jakoś (somehow) with the adjective jakieś (some).
✅ Mam jakieś pytanie.
I have some question.
Jakoś = "somehow" (from jak, an adverb); jakiś/jakaś/jakieś = "some, a certain" (from jaki, an adjective). They look similar but do different jobs.
Key Takeaways
- Add -ś to a question word for the indefinite "some-": kto → ktoś, co → coś, gdzie → gdzieś, kiedy → kiedyś, jak → jakoś, jaki → jakiś.
- The case ending goes inside, before -ś: kogoś, komuś, kimś; czegoś, czemuś, czymś — the verb/preposition still governs the case.
- jakiś / któryś are adjective-like and agree in gender, number, and case with their noun.
- Add -kolwiek for free-choice "any at all": ktokolwiek, cokolwiek, gdziekolwiek, kiedykolwiek — these also decline.
- English "any" in negatives is not -kolwiek but the negative pronouns nic/nikt with double negation.
Now practice Polish
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